On Friday, I went to Montserrat with a group of students in my program. It's this really cool group of mountains that were underwater 50 million years ago or something so they've been shaped by the water and now they look like they were hand-crafted. We got to climb to the very top...!!!!!!!! It was exhausting. Let me tell you, Converse are NOT good shoes for hiking. Really regretting not listening to my mother when she told me to pack my real gym shoes. Regardless of my shoes, we made it to the top. The view was amazing and we had the most beautiful day to hike the mountain. I'll probably hike it again once my parents visit because they're into that garbage.
Yeah, some of the mountain looks like phallic symbols.
That view...
Saturday I went to another FC Barcelona game with Angie, Bo, and Kyra. When I left my homestay to meet up with them, it was raining. I almost turned around and went back to bed because I did not want to deal with that again but I actually paid a pretty substantial amount for the ticket so I went anyway. Once we all met up we were looking for a place to go get lunch. Keep in mind that we are all broke and on strict budgets...we went to McDonalds. They do have Sweet and Sour sauce so that made everything ok. I accidentally ordered Coke thought...that happens a lot in Spain. I get really stressed out when I order to that point where I just keep saying, "Sí" and then just go with it. The rain stopped and I had chicken nuggets so this day was turning up.
Our seats were all separate because when we bought tickets there were no blocks of 4 seats available. I sat down next to an old couple and the woman immediately starts talking to me literally so fast. Imagine the speed my sister Erin talks at and then imagine that IN SPANISH. Literally my jaw dropped and I just said, "Hablo un pocito de español" and she laughed. That was weird. I also know little to nothing about football so I just sat there and enjoyed the atmosphere sitting next to my new friends. Whenever the crowd started cheering, whistling (they do that instead of booing...it sounds like a gato screaming in pain and no not the gato I wish it was), clapping, anything, I joined in. I was just trying to blend in and it was not working. Something happened in the game (literally have no idea) and the woman next to me starts talking to me about what happened and it was so awkward seeing as I didn't understand the language and even it was in English I wouldn't understand what she was talking about anyway. At halftime the 4 of us were all able to sit together because there were open seats. Barca ended up losing to Valencia which was awkward since they're a much better team and they also haven't lost a league game at home since April 2012 so that happened.
Illini take on Camp Nou.
On Sunday I met up with my friend from high school swimming and water polo who is studying abroad in Madrid and was visiting Barcelona for the weekend (S/O to Sara Fasching) so that was great. It's always nice seeing a friendly and familiar face in this new environment and I'm excited to see her again when I visit Madrid in 3 weeks! When I met up with her I was way too tired to shower or put makeup on so I just put a headband in and left. The Spaniards do not condone of that attire, let me tell you. After that, I took a 4 hour nap. During dinner Mercedes asked me if I left the house at all today and I could hear the judgement in her voice. Sunday night was the Super Bowl, and in Barca it started at 12:30 so we went to a bar to watch it.
It was fun to watch the Super Bowl at a bar, but this Barca bar did it all wrong. Mostly because THEY DIDN'T SHOW COMMERCIALS. During commercial breaks there were Spanish commentators (seriously what do they even know about American football...). This was a lot more upsetting than one might think. Once I was able to get over it, we ordered nachos. I use the term "nachos" loosely because when they brought it out, it was a plate of tortilla chips and a bowl of guacamole. So, it was chips and guac...not nachos. What are these people thinking? You can't just lie to me about nachos like that. Like I love chips and guac but when I order nachos I expect nachos. We also ordered patatas bravas (S/O to Emily Behn) which were deliciously fattening. Dipping fried pieces of potato in a ketchup and mayo mixture sounds nasty but it was downright delightful.
Two quick notes having nothing to do with studying abroad:
-Bruno Mars does not hold a candle to Beyonce. Love the RHCP to death but what the f were they doing with Bruno...should have had their own show.
-Harry and Hermione make more sense than Ron and Hermione but really, how could JK shaft Ron AGAIN? It was only fair that he gets Hermione.
Sorry this was a longer post!
Angela
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